The Small Business Field Guide to SoLoMo

Transcription

1 The Small Business Field Guide to SoLoMo

2 Why a Field Guide? You re in the field right now - Online - the biggest marketing playing field in history. Your target audience is also out there. Now what? How will you reach them? How will they find you? The lines separating social, local, and mobile (SoLoMo) have been forever blurred. Much like breathing, where many physiological systems work in concert to produce a seamless and integrated action, today s consumers rely on social, local, and mobile systems to seamlessly perform multiple actions. These may include information seeking, entertainment consumption, and yes, purchase decision. Today s sophisticated consumers are using mobile devices to access social media and business web/ecommerce sites. They re roaming the streets clutching smartphones and tablets looking for things to do or to buy. To compete in this expansive SoLoMo environment, your brand needs an integrated approach. You need to get social, think local, and spend on mobile. That sounds great, but where do you start?

3 The Small Business Field Guide to SoLoMo by Chris Horton Content Creator / Digital Strategist A bit of an Anglophile, Chris studied history and philosophy at SCSU & Oxford University before going on to earn a master s degree in Mediaeval History from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Since rejoining the real world 15 years ago, Chris has held a number of management-level positions in sales and marketing. At SyneCore, Chris divides his time between digital strategy and content creation; at play, he divides his time between little-read and long-forgotten history books. Get Social With Chris

4 SoLoMo Contents The What, How, Why of SoLoMo...1 What & How SoLoMo...1 Why SoLoMo...2 Get Social...3 Think Local...4 Spend on Mobile...5 Get Social: Promote & Engage...6 Coordinating Content and Social Messaging...7 Social Data...8 Social Advertising...9 Think Local: Establish Presence...13 Local SEO...14 Social Check-ins...15 Geo-Fencing...17 Spend on Mobile: Convenience, Simplicity, Proximity...18 Optimize for Mobile...19 Invest in Mobile Advertising...22 Create Mobile-Friendly Ad Copy...23 Integrating SoLoMo: Unifying the Experience...24 The Future of SoLoMo: Don t Forget the PI...25

5 Ladies & gentlemen, if you would please open your SoLoMo Field Guide to Page 1...

6 The What, How, Why of SoLoMo What is SoLoMo? The term SoLoMo is an elision of three marketing elements: How Did We Get Here? In years past, social media marketing, geo-local marketing, and mobile marketing (which until recently largely comprised of SMS text marketing to feature phone users) lived in discrete silos. The advent of smartphones and tablets, coupled with the growing consumer use of social media, has changed this for good.

7 Why is it Important? As miniature mobile computers, the amazing functionality of smartphones and tablets opens up world of possibilities for consumers - and a Pandora s Box for businesses and marketers. Increasingly sophisticated mobile users expect brands to provide contextually relevant online resources that not only add value to their daily lives but can be conveniently accessed anywhere, anytime on any device. Social and mobile technologies have shifted power to the consumers, and they know it. To stay ahead of the SoLoMo curve, your business must do must do three things: Get Social. Think Local. Spend on Mobile

8 Get Social: Actively engage on social media to promote your brand message and engage your target audience. Content shared on social media amplifies your brand s online presence, while transparent social exchanges project its authenticity, fostering longstanding connections with new prospects and existing customers.

9 Think Local: Social media has created an environment where consumers expect brands to be online, transparent, and accessible; transparency and accessibility create brand affinity. In addition, proximity makes it easier for consumers to find local* businesses that can best resolve a problem or fulfill a want or a need. Together, affinity and proximity create the kind of contextual relevance (top of mind awareness) that ultimately drives sales conversion. *Though by using the term local in this sense I mean businesses whom are geographically proximate to the consumer, online proximity also exists, chiefly in relation the consumer s ability to find brands that have targeted him or her.

10 Spend on Moible: 2012 data from Pew Research showed that half of all US adults access the Internet through a smartphone or tablet. Mobile devices are the driving force behind the SoLoMo paradigm. The deep connection between social and mobile should come as no surprise considering that mobile users prefer content that is concise and visually oriented. Add in contextual relevance, and you get SoLoMo: In short, to ensure your product or service is accessible to consumers on their terms, you need to take a SoLoMo approach to marketing.

11 Get Social: Promoting Your Brand & Engaging Your Target Audience In today s SoLoMo environment, marketers are becoming ever more reliant on written, auditory, and visual content media to inform, entertain, and otherwise address the needs of their target audience.

12 Coordinating Content and Social Messaging Written, visual, and auditory content are vital tools for giving substance to your company s vision and articulating its brand message. Content shared on social media amplifies your brand s online presence, while transparent social exchanges project its authenticity, fostering longstanding connections with new prospects and existing customers.

13 Social Data Your business can use the data gleaned from social interactions to gain a better understanding of your audience. This kind of information allows for greater personalization in your brand message and marketing content, which in turn helps move prospects down the sales funnel. A number of different marketing automation software platforms are available to help you collect and manage social data. Two examples are Google Analytics and Hubspot.

14 Social Advertising Many companies have turned to social media advertising to not only enhance the reach of their message, but to help influence prospects at the evaluation, or middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU), stage of the buying cycle. At this stage, buyers understand what they want or need and are actively searching for a solution provider. MOFU-stage offers should clearly lay out how your company will resolve this want or need and concisely express why prospective buyers should work with you to do so. Product Webinars, Case Studies, Data Sheets, FAQs, and free demos are example of evaluation stage offers. As an added benefit, the MOFU stage is also where users are very likely to socially-share information throughout their networks, whether through a like, re-tweet, or pin. Here is a brief summary of the most prevalent social advertising options for small business:

15 Social Facebook Advertising Many companies have turned to social media advertising to not only enhance the reach of their message, but to help influence prospects at the evaluation, or middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU), stage of the buying cycle. At this stage, buyers understand what they want or need and are actively searching for a solution provider. MOFU-stage offers should clearly lay out how your company will resolve this want or need and clearly express why prospective buyers should work with you to do so. Product Webinars, Case Studies, Data Sheets, FAQs, and free demos are example of evaluation stage offers. As an added benefit, the MOFU stage is also where users are very likely to socially-share information throughout their networks, whether through a like, re-tweet, or pin. Here is a brief summary of the most prevalent social advertising options for small business:

16 Social Twitter Advertising Many companies have turned to social media advertising to not only enhance the reach of their message, but to help influence prospects at the evaluation, or middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU), stage of the buying cycle. At this stage, buyers understand what they want or need and are actively searching for a solution provider. MOFU-stage offers should clearly lay out how your company will resolve this want or need and clearly express why prospective buyers should work with you to do so. Product Webinars, Case Studies, Data Sheets, FAQs, and free demos are example of evaluation stage offers. As an added benefit, the MOFU stage is also where users are very likely to socially-share information throughout their networks, whether through a like, re-tweet, or pin. Here is a brief summary of the most prevalent social advertising options for small business:

17 Social LinkedIn, Advertising Google+, & Yelp Advertising Many companies have turned to social media advertising to not only enhance the reach of their message, but to help influence prospects at the evaluation, or middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU), stage of the buying cycle. At this stage, buyers understand what they want or need and are actively searching for a solution provider. MOFU-stage offers should clearly lay out how your company will resolve this want or need and clearly express why prospective buyers should work with you to do so. Product Webinars, Case Studies, Data Sheets, FAQs, and free demos are example of evaluation stage offers. As an added benefit, the MOFU stage is also where users are very likely to socially-share information throughout their networks, whether through a like, re-tweet, or pin. Here is a brief summary of the most prevalent social advertising options for small business:

18 Think Local: Using SoLoMo to Establish Your Geo-Local Presence Companies with a brick-and-mortar presence need to ensure they are easily accessible when prospects are nearby. Whether it s local SEO, social check-ins, local discounts and offers, location-specific daily deals or geo-fencing, proximity creates top of mind awareness and drives conversion. Each of these geo-local marketing techniques is most effective when executed with a SoLoMo mindset.

19 Local SEO

20 Social Check-ins (aka Tagging)

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22 Geo-Fencing A geofence is a virtual perimeter established around any physical space, such as a bar or restaurant, a retail location, an airport, or a stadium, that sends text notifications on an opt-in basis to mobile devices within its sphere. If your business is a brick-and-mortar establishment, you can use geofencing to entice customers passing by your business with coupons, discounts, or other promotions.

23 Spend on Mobile: Fostering Convenience, Simplicity, & Proximity Three factors drive the mobile user experience: convenience, simplicity, and proximity. Mobile apps and websites make our lives more convenient, allowing us to inform and entertain ourselves and communicate with each other more efficiently than ever. Mobile-optimized websites and mobile apps simplify the path to discovery, allowing us to accomplish more with less effort. Simplicity creates proximity (whether physical or online), which in turn gives rise to contextual relevance and top-mind-awareness. For the mobile-optimized business, convenience, simplicity, and proximity conspire to improve sales conversion.

24 Optimize for Mobile

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27 Invest in Mobile Advertising Mobile is one of the best places to spend your ad dollars. Data suggests that mobile users not only click-through, but act on, the mobile ads they come across each and every day. This trend also holds true for social mobile advertising.

28 Create Mobile-Friendly Ad Copy If you decide to experiment with mobile advertising, make sure to craft mobile-oriented ad copy relevant to the on-the-go-consumer. Try to use mobile URLS, and include phone numbers, CTAs for content offers, hyperlinks to directions, coupons, or local-social media sites that have user-generated reviews of your brand, such as Yelp.

29 Integrating SoLoMo: Unifying the Experience To make SoLoMo work for your brand, the overarching focus must be on integration. Don t silo Social, Local, or Mobile - doing so may do more harm than good. Instead, focus on your message and your audience. The goal is to communicate your product or service and brand message as efficiently as possible. Efficiency implies seamlessness and unification. Whoever your target audience, they are looking for simplicity and convenience, i.e. efficiency. By providing a seamless user experience over social, local, and mobile you are adding value, and in so doing hastening the path to the sale. As consumers integrate the Internet, social, and mobile into their daily lives, you need to follow suit. SoLoMo integration can be a complicated, slippery slope prone to paralysis by analysis. Start off simple, like making sure your brand s message and content, and look and feel, are consistent over all media. Try to minimize accidental or mindless inconsistencies. Segmenting your message to reach different elements of your target audience or to speak to prospects at different stages in the sales cycle is fine, as long as it is intentional.

30 The Future of SoLoMo: Don t Forget the PI

31 We Help Brands Form Connections That Matter At SyneCore, we believe the seamless integration of digital marketing channels fosters deeper and more meaningful connections with the people who matter most: those who find value in your brand. SyneCore incorporates proven inbound marketing methods into our Integrated Digital Marketing process, which is customized to the meet the needs of each client. GET SOCIAL WITH US Additional Works Cited 1 Human Service Solutions, Mobile Website vs Mobile App